Notes from America: ‘Students sit together’

They do not segregate the person with disabilities at universities. Students sit together and learn in a common platform. The system ensures reasonable accommodations, according to the needs of a person with a disability.
~ Md Nazmus Sakib, a disability rights activist from Bangladesh, after visiting Pensacola University as part of an exchange program

It’s true. From pre-kindergarten to graduate school, American students have equitable access to education and go to schools that work with them to meet their specific learning needs.

Today, for the 7.3 million American students with disabilities — some of whom receive inclusive education services such as assistance from speech-language pathologists, assistive technology or occupational therapy — accommodations give them the tools to succeed while they learn alongside their peers.

This is thanks to American disability rights activists such as Judith Heumann, who worked to get the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) codified into law by Congress in 1990. Thanks to Title II of the ADA, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, and the IDEA, for 34 years, students with disabilities have been guaranteed a free public school education that is tailored to their individual needs and protects them from discrimination based on their disability.

The ADA was revolutionary for its time and without a precedent in any other country. Its legal safeguards extend beyond education and entitle people with disabilities access to public spaces — buildings must eliminate barriers to entry, which can mean ramps for wheelchair users or visual guides for the deaf or hard of hearing — and accommodations to help people to thrive in school or at work.

Ongoing conversations

Chad Price, the director of education development and disability resources at Arizona State University, says that the school registers students with his office so that the staff can connect with students and their professors to suggest the best ways to tailor a curriculum or make accommodations. “It’s an ongoing conversation between students and faculty to make sure that students are set up and have access,” Price says.

In his office’s meetings with students, “it really comes down to one-on-one interactions,” he says. “It helps us understand their disability and the impact of their disability so that we can determine which accommodations are most appropriate and make sure they have access to their education.”

The accommodations might include sign-language interpretation of lectures, real-time captioning on video lectures, note-taking assistance, extra time to take tests or alternative formats of educational materials. Price works with a facilities office on campus to make sure classrooms are physically accessible to all.

Every student receives educational accommodations specifically tailored to their needs, Price says, and each classroom accommodation might look a little bit different.

During her sophomore year at the University of Illinois Chicago, Zoie Sheets, who says she “wanted to be a doctor my entire life,” was experiencing chronic pain that made it hard to focus in class. She talked with the university’s Disability Resource Center. The staff helped her arrange for accommodations for her classes, tailored to her specific needs, and resolved a conflict with a professor about how accommodations work.

Today, Sheets is well on the way to reaching her lifelong goal: She is a second-year resident in internal and pediatric medicine after completing both her undergraduate and medical degrees at the University of Illinois Chicago. She works toward greater understanding of the valuable “diversity that people with disabilities bring” to society.

Were Bangladeshi Md Nazmus Sakib to visit an American university again in the coming years, he might find new approaches. Recently, Title II of the ADA was updated to include digital accessibility for people with disabilities. While it will be up to each university to find its own way to comply, Carleigh Kude, director of disability resources for Stanford University’s Department of Medicine, believes the future will include more use of artificial intelligence. “AI … as a tool to support disabled learners is going to be a wonderful thing,” she said.

Learn more about studying in the United States .